Colorado’s union and business leaders announced Saturday that after months of negotiations, they have failed to reach a deal on the future of the Labor Peace Act, setting up a high-stakes showdown between Democrats in the legislature and Gov. Jared Polis.
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Future of union organizing in Colorado remains fuzzy as legislative session enters home stretch
Senate Bill 5 would abolish a requirement in the Colorado Labor Peace Act that 75% of workers at a company sign off before union security negotiations can begin. The bill is a priority for unions and loathed by business interests. Gov. Jared Polis is in the mix, too.
Read moreIt’s been nearly a month since there was any legislative action on Senate Bill 5, which would abolish a requirement in the Colorado Labor Peace Act that 75% of workers at a company sign off before unions can negotiate with businesses over union security. Union security is the term for when workers are forced to pay fees for collective bargaining representation — whether or not they are members of their workplace’s union.
The measure is a priority for unions and loathed by business interests. The two sides have been working for months to find a compromise.
But with less than five days left in Colorado’s 2025 legislative session, Democrats will move forward with the measure as introduced. The session ends Wednesday.
“Representing workers who are ready for change, we came to the table in good faith but business walked away from a meaningful compromise that would have made our system fairer and safer for working people,” Dennis Dougherty, who leads the Colorado branch of the AFL-CIO, said in a written statement Saturday.
Assuming the measure passes, as is expected, that will force Polis to decide whether to sign or veto a piece of legislation that he has blasted from day one.
Polis has repeatedly said that he opposes any effort to totally repeal the union security vote. He has floated lowering the 75% threshold as an alternative.
“My yardstrick will be: Does it bring business and labor together in support of a way of organizing that’s more stable and does it preserve the right of workers to be able to have a say in whether union fees are required to be deducted from their paycheck?” Polis told The Colorado Sun in March.
Gov. Jared Polis prepares to sign a bill at the Colorado Capitol in Denver on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)The governor has suggested that labor has gotten in its own way.
“The business community has proposed several changes,” he said. “There’s absolutely a victory for labor, if they will simply take it.”
Unions are required to bargain on behalf of all workers at a company, whether they are in the union or not. That’s why they feel it’s only fair that union security be imposed to cover the cost of things like lawyers and negotiating experts.
The union security elections are run by the state Department of Labor and sometimes the state isn’t so fast. That can drag out the unionization process, during which the makeup of the workplace can shift and momentum can slow. And employers can do more to pressure workers to change their minds about unionizing.
Loren Furman, president and CEO of the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, previously said the business community offered three proposals to labor that would reduce the 75% threshold required for the union security vote and shorten the time between the simple majority vote to form a union and the vote over whether to begin negotiations over union security.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
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